Oil and gas wells typically employ various types of sensor systems and other instrumentation to monitor parameters of the well that are associated with the well's production, such as temperature, pressure, etc. As the monitoring often needs to be performed in real time, sensors that are permanently installed in the well generally are employed. Although it may be possible to remove a permanently installed sensor system, such removals are costly both in the labor and expense involved. Moreover, in some instances, it may not be feasible to completely remove the sensor system. For instance, some sensing systems may incorporate an optical fiber that is used in a distributed temperature sensing (DTS) system. The optical fiber often is completely contained within a conduit, such as a control line, that traverses a region of interest in the well. In the event that the optical fiber degrades over time, the optical fiber may be pulled from the conduit for replacement. However, the conduit itself is left in the region of interest such that a replacement optical fiber may be deployed therein.
The presence of the conduit and/or the sensor system itself within the region of interest of the well may be problematic. More specifically, over the lifetime of the well, further completion operations, such as a perforation operation or a well treatment, may need to be performed in the well to optimize production. Oftentimes, the placement and connection of the permanently installed sensor systems, such as the DTS system discussed above, will interfere with the type of operation to be performed, resulting in either destruction of the existing sensor system and/or a costly removal procedure to remove and replace the sensor system. In some instances, replacement of the sensor system may not be feasible. In such cases, a choice must be made between attempting to increase production with an intervention procedure that destroys the sensor system or simply leaving the sensor system in place and accepting less than optimal production.